Latest News

Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.

We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.

A note about links

Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.


Women in Afghanistan tortured for saying ‘no’ *

May 16th, 2012 | Filed by

87% of Afghan women have experienced abuse.



The lowest difficulty setting *

May 16th, 2012 | Filed by

It’s Rawls’s veil of ignorance, in a different metaphor.



Jesus pulls seniority rank on Mo *

May 16th, 2012 | Filed by

And Mo reads the New Statesman.



Burkina Faso moves to help women accused of witchcraft *

May 15th, 2012 | Filed by

Women driven from their homes will have access to legal and psycho-social support, as well as financial assistance to re-establish their livelihoods.



“Gove promised Catholic schls cn oppose gay marriage” *

May 15th, 2012 | Filed by

Sections 406-7 of the Education Act 1996 forbids ‘the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school’.



Martin Robbins on sexual correctness *

May 15th, 2012 | Filed by

Sexual correctness is a fundamental failure of journalism, and not just in the moralistic right-wing end of the press.



TV show condones murder for blasphemy *

May 14th, 2012 | Filed by

A British TV channel that broadcast a talk saying it is acceptable to murder someone who has shown disrespect to Muhammad faces a heavy fine or potential closure by Ofcom.



Afghan women falling off the White House radar *

May 14th, 2012 | Filed by

Suzanne Nossel of Amnesty International USA said it was “really worrying” that Obama only made a passing reference to women on his trip to Afghanistan last week.



Witchcraft: Man kills mother, sets house on fire *

May 14th, 2012 | Filed by

A source told PUNCH Metro that 36-year-old Jonathan had been frustrated with his life and had accused his mother of being responsible for his inability to make progress.



Pertussis epidemic in Washington state *

May 13th, 2012 | Filed by

Washington State has the highest percentage of parents in the nation who voluntarily exempt their children from one or more vaccines.



Another religion as curate’s egg article *

May 13th, 2012 | Filed by

Parts of it are excellent, therefore we mustn’t reject it.



Men are the real victims of sexism *

May 13th, 2012 | Filed by

Never mind all those men at the top; look at all those men on the bottom.



Iranian cartoonist sentenced to 25 lashes for drawing MP *

May 13th, 2012 | Filed by

His sentence has triggered outcry among Iran’s online community with many calling on cartoonists to draw new caricatures of the MP.



Four Iranian men due to be hanged for sodomy *

May 13th, 2012 | Filed by

“The judicial denial of same-sex relationships in Iran stems from its relationship to Shari’a law and patriarchy,” says Gorji Marzban of Austrian-based Oriental Queer Organization.



Philip Kitcher on “scientism” *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

Since the conclusions reached in analyses of human behavior will be socially consequential, the evidence for them deserves to be closely scrutinized.



Richard Carrier interviews Susan Haack *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

A must read.



“You slut, how dare you take my wife to the beach” *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

Ismail Belghar slapped his sister-in-law across the face because she and her sister went to the beach.



Indonesia: politician says attacking people is wrong *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

Members of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, who initiated the attack, have defended their action.



Indonesia’s record on human rights has tainted its image *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

“The government has obviously failed to guarantee basic freedom for the people, which is the freedom from fear.”



Jakarta Post on Irshad Manji *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

Hundreds of members of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council attacked the LKiS publishing office in Yogyakarta where she was speaking about her book on Wednesday night.